How to Deal with Surplus Manpower [Archives:1997/49/Business & Economy]

Ismail Al-Ghabiri, Yemen Times.
A workshop on “Reviewing the Experience of Some Countries in Dealing with Surplus Manpower” was held at the Ministry of Civil Service in Sanaa on December 3rd and 4th. Held under the theme of “Development and Modernization of the Civil Service System in Yemen, the workshop was the fruit of efforts made by the Ministry of Civil Service and the World Bank. A number of papers on the experiences of administrative reforms in Ecuador, Spain, Peru, Argentina, and Mexico were reviewed. A paper was also submitted on over-staffing in economic and civil service sectors in Yemen.
Recommendations: The participants recommended that a comprehensive strategy for administrative reform should be adopted to guarantee a good level of coordination and integration among the various relevant state apparatuses. A state of coordination must also exist among the economic, financial, educational, and administrative policies of the government. The steps to be taken in this regard are to include the following: 1- reviewing the general structure of the state’s general administrative apparatus, including proposals for downsizing and raising the efficiency; 2- categorizing the various functions of the state’s administrative apparatus in order to specify tasks and duties and the required staff and their qualifications; 3- specifying the staff size required for each administrative unit; 4- objectively evaluating the personnel performance and using the results for specifying training needs, rewards and punishments; 5- developing the manpower abilities and skills; 6- redistributing the surplus manpower to achieve a balance among the various administrative units; 7- concluding the preparations for conducting a general job survey and census so as to establish a complete and comprehensive database on the manpower in Yemen; 8- adopting an active policy to limit over-staffing and veiled unemployment; 9- limiting the appointment of new staff, and restricting the process to essential needs in vital sectors such as health, education, and the judicial system; 10- rationalizing the employment of non-Yemenis, and adopting policies to gradually replace non-Yemeni employees with Yemenis; 11- putting an end to occupying dual jobs in the civil and defense organs by adopting an effective method to uncover such cases; 12- amending the civil service law in accordance with the new direction adopted by the state’s general policy; 13- pensioning off those who have reached the legal age of retirement; 14- developing the methods and organs of administrative inspection and monitoring; 15- endorsing policies to downsize economic and administrative organs; 16- adopting incentive policies to deal with surplus manpower such as early retirement, providing good redundancy compensations, distributing arable lands to the laid-off people who are willing to cultivate them, etc. 17- reviewing education policies and directing them in the best way to serve the requirements of development; 18- protecting the civil service from political and social pressures and influences; and 19- adopting a transparent attitude in the interaction between the state administration and the private sector, and removing all bureaucratic and legal obstacles that may hinder private investments in Yemen.

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